Like this:

Everyone uses digital maps these days, I assume. At least I do. Since I’ve been using them more often lately, I checked if there are any apps for Linux and especially Ubuntu. The search returned 4 apps.

Maps (aka gnome-maps)

is a map application for GMONE. Its use is slick and fast. It is supposed to be simplistic
Search and directions is functional (based on MapQuest if I’m not mistaken) but geolocation isn’t. Moreover, the satellite imagery is not available at high resolution.

Purism uses its own OS, PureOS, which is a Debian derivative by way of Ubuntu and other members of the Debian-derivative family, but with no taint of proprietary code. Now imagine all the binaries stripped out of the Linux kernel, making it closer to the FSF ideal of a 100% free operating system than the Linux kernel in use almost everywhere else.

They’re still using a proprietary BIOS, but have people working on a Free one. The main thing, though, is that Purism is working to give you all the privacy and freedom they can — with more coming as they keep working to replace proprietary bits of the OS, BIOS, and hardware drivers with Free Software. Best of all, even if you don’t need a new laptop right now, you can download PureOS and run it on any compatible hardware you already own.

This is something nice to hear. What’s even more appealing is the hardware switches for the microphone/webcam and bluetooth/wireless and the focus on the screen hinges.

When power is provided, all hardware components spin up, and load the firmware they have burned onto them, such as the hard drive or solid state drive, the BIOS then loads firmware for additional components, be that the memory controller, system management controller, embedded controller, USB, and/or GPU. At this point the BIOS hands off to a boot loader, Purism uses GRUB, which is a completely free boot loader. A boot loader is the first software program that runs when a computer starts. It is responsible for loading and transferring control to the operating system kernel software, Purism uses a completely free version of Linux. The kernel, in turn, initializes the rest of the operating system, Purism uses a completely free version of GNU. GNU allows for thousands of free software applications to run on top of it, and the distribution that Purism uses to bundle completely free software applications is Trisquel.

Like this:

Many Linux users usually need to repeat the same command over and over again. For the newbie she will often re-write the whole command. The average use might already know that there’s something called a bash history and so she would use the up and down arrows to navigate through the history. It will take a while to find the needed command.

The more advanced user would know the trick I am about to tell you to find the appropriate command in less than 3 seconds.Continue reading